Well...to be honest, I didn't expect the response that came when I said I was going to take this fic down. I was so caught up in examining everything that would remain the same whether or not an OC was involved that I failed to realize how many things would be lost if I removed Kidoku from the story, and I'm glad that so many of you were willing to help knock some sense into me. In particular, I'MNOTCRAZY1 helped out immensely by reading through every chapter and giving his opinion on each chapter, both the positives and the negatives.
What I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry for overreacting to my own negativity, and that I WILL in fact continue to write this fanfic. I put too much time into coming up with things that haven't even been written yet to let this project die in its early stages.
However, looking back through the nine chapters I have written thus far, I realize that this story could be much better. Up to this point, I refused to use a beta reader because of my own stupid pride, but henceforth I will run each new chapter by at least one person before posting it. That could be a while, though, because I have chosen to take a hiatus from writing new chapters for this story so that I might have the chance to fix the aforementioned problems. Some changes will be small, some will be bigger, and ultimately I may end up changing the way the chapters are divided.
In addition to revisions, I'm also going to sit down and try to plan ahead for this fic based on what follows from the established development, not based on what I want to happen. I had a VERY rigidly set ending in mind when I began writing this, and I think that contributed to some of the errors I made, especially moments of character derailment. With schoolwork piling on, it might be a while until I can post the real tenth chapter of this story, but I have not given up, and I will see this story to its completion. It's likely that when I start to post the revised story, it will be a new entry under a different name, so keep your eyes peeled! Until then, I will leave this up as a lasting testament to what I tried to accomplish, and as a reminder to myself to take my time and not be so narrow-minded.
Thank you all for your encouragement and support. This is the first fanfic I've ever written, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of readers. Until next time!
~Grandliucharde